ne of the singular
event which it was now his duty to investigate. A half-hour later he
dropped off the bus at Lawrence Avenue and Sheridan Road. A few
steps brought him to the Hillcrest apartments, where he found
Tierney waiting on the front steps for him.

"The Chief telephoned me that you would probably be here about this
time," said Tierney, after acknowledging Morgan's greeting. "I was
on the job last night, and did a little investigating this morning,
so the Chief thought you might want to talk things over with me."

Morgan nodded. "All right, let's go up. Can we get into the flat?"

"Sure," answered Tierney. "We put a temporary padlock on this
morning, and I have the key."

Without further words the two men climbed the stairs to the
apartment on the third floor. Tierney unlocked the padlock and they
went in. Inside the entrance hall of the apartment, Tierney turned
to Morgan.

"I suppose the Chief has put the case entirely in your hands, so
it's up to you what you want to do first."

"We had better go into the front room here," answered Morgan, "and
let me get a line on things. About all I know so far is that
somebody THINKS a murder has been committed."

"You can't make much out of things as they are, that's a fact,"
assented Tierney, as they moved into the front room. He dropped into
an easy chair close at hand, and pushed his cap back on his head,
while Morgan went to one of the front windows and ran the shade to
the top. Seating himself where he could get the full benefit of the
light from the window, he drew out the typewritten report and read
it over carefully.

"This is your report, isn't it, Tierney?" he inquired, folding up
the sheets again and replacing them in his pocket.

"You bet; and I put into it every damned thing I know," asserted
Tierney. "And that's mighty little," he added. "This is the most
mysterious case I ever saw."

There was a pause while Morgan drew a pipe from his pocket and
filled and lighted it. Then settling back in his chair, he looked at
Tierney. "Got any theories?" he asked.

"No," replied Tierney. "I haven't any theories--but I've got a
couple of suspicions."

"Well?"

"One," continued Tierney, "is this flat across the hall. Murphy--that's
the man on the beat who heard the shot and investigated--Murphy
noticed that in spite of all the racket we made breaking down
the door last night, no one in that flat showed any interest. I
tried to get in touch with them th